Ruthenia

The County of Ruthenia is a landlocked farming community nearly a day's ride to the East of Crowstead. It is not far from the bunker entrance that now makes up the Dwarven lands, and is regarded as one of the frontier outposts of Crowstead. People who hail from Ruthenia are known in Crowstead as Ruthenians and speak a very difficult and harsh tongue. This area is famous for its spirits brewed from barley, wheat, and potatoes, and is infamous for its historic links with the Ruthenian Mafia. The capital of Ruthenia is the Kremlin of Rusyna, which serves as the seat of House Rusynov.

Ancient History of the Dwarves and Orcs
The High Plains of Ruthenia, while within the magical protection of The Valley, were long viewed as taboo by the peoples of Crowstead and remained a verdant but empty land. As long as they remained within the barrier that protected them from the newly awakened spiritual forces of the Wasteland, then the Ruthenians believed they could make a home there. They had little clue as to the non-spiritual forces they would soon be wrestling with.

The two apocalypses had successfully cleared all of the races of Gaia from the Wastelands save one. The Orcs see the Wasteland as their Valhalla. While most will perish quickly in the Wasteland, the Orcs seem not to suffer at the same rate or have the same necessities as the other races while residing there. An orc will eat when food is available, but an Orc is only truly sated by fulfilling its frenzied bloodlust, which it aptly calls the “WAAAUGHHH!”

For the most part, Orcs are satisfied with fighting one another in the Wasteland, but occasionally they are drawn together toward a new challenge, a greater fight than any other small band of Greenskins in the pits of the Wasteland could hope to provide. Such a challenge first presented itself in the aftermath of the Tech Apocalypse, when the Warband of Rothgak discovered the Dwarves. The Dwarven Colony of the High Plains (Name?) was a Sister City of Crowstead, originally formed in allegiance with the powerful human city. Rothgak called upon Orcs from across the Wasteland and waged a GRAT WAAAUGH! against the Dwarves for 400 years. The harder the Dwarves fought, the more legendary Rothgak’s cause against them became, drawing more and more Orcs to his warband. Dwarves and Humans had abandoned their alliance before Rothgak’s arrival, for the humans of Crowstead never came to aid the Dwarves as the Orc menace grew. Eventually Rothgak’s forces overwhelmed the Dwarves, flattening their technology to ashes. A few Dwarves escaped from his clutches into an impenetrable bunker, but Rothgak was a patient orc. He could wait as long as the Dwarves could sit in their dark hole. Some Orcs disobeyed Rothgak and tried to take the WAAAAUGH! into the Human lands where they were utterly destroyed by a group of powerful Wizards. Rothgak kept what Orcs he could under his command and waited, he understood there was a time and order to things, first the Dwarves, then the Wizards, then the helpless humies would fall before him.

Few of Rothgak's Orcs shared his patience. They grew restless and returned deep into the Wastleands. Rothgak also left the High Plains, but he stayed near and kept his ear to the ground, waiting for the return of the Dwarves.

Half a millenia passed and the Ruthenians settled the empty lands. Rothgak did not view these weak peasants with their pitchforks and green wagons as worthy prey, but if he didn’t offer his remaining orcs some entertainment, then his cause might very well be lost…

History of the Ruthenians
The Ruthenians are relatively newcomers to The Valley. Before arriving in the Valley they claim to have traversed in caravans for many generations since the First Apocalypse. They found the lands their caravans travelled impossible to travel on in the aftermath of the Second Magical Apocalypse and were forced to detour to Crowstead. Ruthenians spoke a strange tongue and practiced equally strange customs which made them stand out in the city, and they consequently faced much discrimination from its inhabitants.

Many Ruthenians decided to leave the unwelcoming city and settled in the Valley but only found open land on the Eastern Outskirts known as the High Plains. Most of the other Valley inhabitants viewed the area the Ruthenians settled in with a great distaste and taboo, and it also faced the harshest winters in the Valley. However, the Ruthenians found a comfort in the place because it bore many similarities with how their myths spoke of their ancient homeland of Ruth. They named their newfound farming community after their long lost home and created a place where their kind would be welcomed freely in The Valley.

Some Ruthenians chose to tough it out in the other lands of the Valley and Crowstead, and there was a constant economic migration between those places and the rural villages of Ruthenia. Ruthenian workers were often cheated in the city, and their complaints with non-Ruthenian officials fell on deaf ears. Ruthenians who spoke the common tongue more easily began to speak for their comrades and arranged work with fair(er) pay. If deals with workers were changed or renegged upon, these agents - known as Bratva among the Ruthenians, and Mafia among the Crowsteaders - would often use violent methods to make it known that Ruthenians were not to be messed with. As the Mafia gained influence and wealth from their arrangements they began to institute protection rackets and other criminal enterprises in the New City. Much of this wealth was sent back to Ruthenia where the Rusynovs, who lead the Mafia, built the Kremlin and its surrounding village. In return, the Rusynovs used this Bratva to establish a trade of Dwarven goods throughout Crowstead.

Greenskin raids quickly brought devastation upon the Ruthenian villages in the High Plains. The Orcs raided without rhyme or reason, burning villages and fields, killing and taking slaves at random, and despoiling food stores. Few Ruthenians returned from the Wastelands after being taken as slaves, and those who did told stories of abject horror (if they could say anything at all).

Winged Knights
The Ruthenians did not see retreating from their new home as an option. Drawing from ancient mythology, they banded together and formed a knightly order to defend themselves from the Orcs, the Winged Knights. These Heavy Cavalry units continue to defend the people of Ruthenia against the Orc menace, and their legend has grown throughout Crowstead. After taking power in Ruthenia, the Rusynov Counts patronized the Order.

House Rusynov
How the Rusynovs gained power remains a mystery to most. The Rusynovs were originally a low-level Ruthenian criminal family who stumbled upon the long lost Dwarven bunker. What convinced the Dwarves to trade with these shady fellows remains a mystery, but it soon became one of the most lucrative financial deals in all of the lands of Crowstead, as the Rusynovs connived the Dwarves into giving finely crafted goods for food staples and alchohol. The Rusynovs quickly parlayed their wealth into newfound power in the High Plains, establishing a exploitative nobility where previously there had only been farming communities.

A long since dead King of Crowstead established Ruthenia as a Royal County and with some financial persuasion appointed the Rusynovs as Counts. House Rusynov has long had a dubious reputation because of its links with the Ruthenian Mafia. Count Drago Dragovich has lead the house for nearly 40 years, and has kept an unusually quiet and long life. The Count rarely leaves the Kremlin. It remains to be seen if he will take his seat in the new parliament that has been created by the King. His eldest daughter, Duchess Maria Drahovna has married into the Noble House of ??? and lives in the Inner City.

Ruthenian Mafia
The Ruthenian Mafia is notorious for its protection racket in the New City of Crowstead and maintains numerous criminal enterprises throughout the lands of Crowstead. It is also rumored that the mafia maintains a trade in rare Dwarven goods. They do not look kindly on newcomers who push into their domains. Mafiosi openly work contracts as mercenaries and enforcers. They do not take contracts for assasinations, choosing to leave such work to the The Faceless Men. All members of the Mafia hail either from Ruthenia or are part of the Ruthenian community in the city.